Academy Accreditation The Academy Accreditation process carried out by All India Football Federation (AIFF) for 2017/18 has yielded a total of 59 star rated academies out of the seventy applications received. This year saw a record number of applications from various academies both under the Residential and Non-Residential criteria. The applications received saw a rise of thirty in number from last season. Out of the 59 rated academies, 21 received a one-star rating, 27 were rated two stars, 10 were classified under the 3 star category whereas only one received a 4-star rating. The year also saw a success rate of 84% among all applicants in getting accredited under AIFF which is an increase of 17% as compared to last year. The Academy Accreditation process was carried out for over four months that involved establishment of the assessment criteria, organisation of workshops where the criteria were introduced and explained to all potential applicants, submission of mandatory documents for assessment followed by physical inspections carried out by designated AIFF personnel and the declaration of results.

15 Program Overview : AIFF Grassroots Leaders Course The AIFF Grassroots (GR) program is primarily driven through the State Associations and is designed to include all stakeholders in Grassroots football such as the Union/ State Governments, Clubs, Academies (amateur and professional), Schools, Communities etc. Our State Associations has shown unwavering commitment towards implementation of Grassroots program following the AIFF Grassroots key pillars and a tailor made Strategic Plan prepared by the AIFF. Maharashtra, Kerala, Kolkata, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh played a crucial role to develop and expand the Grassroots Program. The AIFF Grassroots Leaders Course is specifically designed and subsequently adapted as per the FIFA and AFC Grassroots Football Philosophy to educate Coaches across length and breadth of the country. In line with our Grassroots Strategic plan we have conducted a total of 23 AIFF Grassroots Leaders Courses in 2017 year.

No of Coaches Trained AIFF Grassroots Instructors Course, April 2017, Goa Educating Grassroots Leaders/ Coaches is our one of key pillar of the program and we have trained a total of 573 Coaches in 2017 year. In a bid to increase the outreach of the Grassroots Program across the country, the AIFF conducted its first ever AIFF Grassroots Instructors Course featuring twenty participants from fourteen different states in April 2017, delivered by Ms. Anju Turambekar, AIFF Grassroots Instructor. The course was designed to tutor the participants in the FIFA Grassroots philosophy and the AFC redefined Grassroots Philosophy to help implement the programs in their respective State Associations.

16

AFC Grassroots Day The All India Football Federation's (AIFF) commitment to promote football across all categories as per the new redefined AFC Grassroots Philosophy saw a record participation amongst the state associations across the entire country and participants of all ages and abilities commemorated the landmark occasion of the AFC Grassroots Day 2017 with a massive turnout of over twenty-six thousand participants across all categories From children football to beach soccer, women's football and people with disabilities, the AIFF continued to work with key stakeholders to bring joy and enhance social development in various provinces as efforts to grow Grassroots football continues in the world's second most populous nation. Children Football The most popular format by far across the country and one that has seen the maximum involvement from all stake holders, Children football continues to be the most popular area of activities with a turnout of over sixteen thousand eight hundred kids across the county lacing up their boots to celebrate the AFC Grassroots Day. Festivals, Clinics, Tournaments, Exhibition Matches, Q&A Sessions with Coaches and Professional Players, Social and Educational Campaigns were all part of the different activities held under the category. Thousands of Grassroots Leaders actively involved across the vast expanse of the country have ensured that every region under the jurisdiction of the AIFF has contributed in the AFC Grassroots Day with various activities. 17

Veteran's Football India has a thriving veteran's football culture and with the redefinition of the Grassroots philosophy, several clubs and state association took the opportunity to invite stars of yester-years to participate in Veterans Exhibition Matches and Veterans Football Tournaments conducted on AFC Grassroots Day. Given the popularity of the format, thousands of fans across all states turned out to witness the matches. Disability Football Multiple Clubs, NGOs and Football Academies took up the cause of Disability Football by conducting football festivals for Children with Special Needs and Disabilities. The Indian Blind Football Federation conducted their National Level Championships for the visually impaired. Football festivals focused on a safe and fun environment for participants to improve their coordination and motor skills under the careful supervision of experts and volunteers alike.

Beach Football With its miles of pristine beaches along the Arabian coast, the state of Goa leads the way in Beach football in India and thanks to the contribution of both the professional clubs and the state-sponsored football program, the Goa Football Development Council and the Goa Football Association conducted multiple beach football tournaments on AFC Grassroots Day and thanks to the popularity of the format among the local populace, there was a huge turnout in each of the events conducted over several famous beaches in the state. 18

Women's Football With the launch of the inaugural edition of the Indian Women's League (IWL), the premier club competition in the country earlier this year, the AIFF had its sight set firmly on setting on promoting women's football development by conducting the AIFF Women's Senior Nationals in Punjab on AFC Grassroots Day, May 15th 2017 featuring twenty eight state teams featuring a total of five hundred and sixty players in all (560). Women's football festivals organized in various states formed an ideal platform to introduce young girls into the sport and provide them with the necessary support and guidance to take up the beautiful game.

Youth & Amateur Football With participants reaching up to almost seven thousand in all, the AFC Grassroots Day proved to be an ideal platform to launch various Grassroots Leagues, Tournaments and Clinics for both boys and girls across the country and stakeholders have shown the utmost interest in promoting the beautiful game through various competitions and initiatives among the upcoming generation of players. Professional Clubs and State Associations have made it a top priority by investing into youth football with several city and region wide tournaments to discover new talents.

Social Causes From the RESPECT Campaign for Players, Coaches and Match Officials to the various educational presentations on topics like Injury Prevention, Hydration, Nutrition, Lifestyle Choices and Hygiene, the AFC Grassroots Day celebrations saw a range of different causes being highlighted by the various stakeholders to the assembled masses via the medium of football. Certain organizations focused on Women-centric emphasizing on the importance of Women's Rights and involvement of women in sports in India 19

Ambassadors Involvement Thanks to the direct involvement of the professional clubs and the growing popularity of the Indian National team and the professional clubs in the domestic circuit namely the I-League and Indian Super League, many superstars and crowd-favorites made appearances and participated in the festivals to engage with their fans and increase their fan-engagement, promote football and generate readership in the print, electronic and various social media platforms. Referees Involvement AIFF - WIFA - OFC Just Play Program Even the match officials of the AIFF contributed towards grassroots development by conducting a football festival on AFC Grassroots Day in West Bengal. The AIFF launched India's first-ever Referee's Academy for Women Referees in Gopiballavpur in West Midnapore, West Bengal in January 2017 with an aim to develop Indian women footballers interested in refereeing to top world class referees. This is the first-ever kind of Academy exclusive for Women Referees in India and a concept that is unique in the entire continent and the women are keen to develop the game at the Grassroots level in their communities with several activities planned in the coming months.

Just Play is a sport for development program managed by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) that has been successfully running in the Pacific since 2009. Through the program, children between the ages of 6-12 years, learn and explore sport in a meaningful way. The Just Play program has been contributing to positive outcomes in the area of healthy lifestyles and women empowerment in the Pacific Islands. Based on the success of the Just Play program in the Pacific, the Australian government decided to give All India Football Federation (AIFF) the initiative to launch the Just Play program in India.

20

Over 238,478 children have participated in the program from 11 countries from the Pacific Islands and over 4305 teachers and community volunteers have been trained. The Just Play program partners in the Pacific are AIFF - KFA - OFC Just Play Program Just Play course for coaches was conducted from 25th- 27th March 2017 as part of capacity building for the second phase of the Just Play pilot run & to build a positive perception about the program among the coaching community in Kerala. The course was monitored by the Grassroots Development Team at KFA The Kerala Football Association recently signed a MoU with Kerala Blasters, the ISL (Indian Super League) team from Kerala, to assist them in conducting Grassroots Development programs across the State. Kerala Blasters have agreed to support Just Play & the Just Play course for coaches was the first event conducted in the state as part of this MoU.

the UEFA Foundation for children, the Australian government, the New Zealand government and UNICEF Pacific. The Just Play program was launched in the state of Maharashtra in collaboration with the Western India Football Association (WIFA) and since then has been called the WIFA Just Play Program. Major stakeholders including the Australian government, the Football Federation of Australia (FFA), Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and AIFF discussed the program and concluded that it should focus on social issues of Sanitation & Hygiene and Gender Equality. The objective is also in line with the Swacch Bharat Mission initiated by the Prime Minister of India. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Mumbai City FC (MCFC) are partners for this project.

The program caters to children between the ages of 6 years to 12 years in MCGM schools and will be implemented in the Greater Mumbai region for now. Gradually, the program will expand to other areas of Maharashtra as well. The WIFA Just Play curriculum uses football drills and fun games to deliver social messages of Sanitation & Hygiene and Gender Equality. The WIFA Just Play team is a strong unit of 17 instructors and 26 PE Teachers who impart training and conduct sessions in the MCGM schools. As of now, the program is active in 6 venues across Mumbai which consist of 25 schools of different mediums. The children have been enjoying the sessions and participation has been consistent. The highlight of the program so far is that the percentage of girls attending the sessions at all venues is 47% and we expect it to grow in the future.

21

MXIM- Mission Eleven Million : In tune with the AIFF Grassroots Strategic Plan, the Mission XI Million Project is a school oriented program launched as a legacy project extending up to FIFA U-17 World Cup. It is expected to evolve into India's biggest outreach sporting activity ever, and to leave a legacy for the first FIFA tournament in India. The project is jointly initiated by the Government of India and All India Football Federation to reach out to eleven (11) million children by the end of October 2017 so as to create football awareness among the children of the country. MXIM is spread across the length and breadth of the country and covers 36 cities and reaches out to more than 15000 schools and over 11,00,000 children, dwarfing the initial goal of achieving 250,000 participants in 2015 and adding up to reach the target every subsequent year.

Mission XI Million uses the school network and facilities around the country to encourage children to play the game. The approach is to work with school administrators and sports teachers and encourage and incentivize them to make children play regular football games as per FIFA regulations. Children are given various online and tangible rewards for playing, and 30 children from each school are selected for a football festival where many other schools in the city participate. All this is backed by an online platform that registers and records information on all the children and the participating schools.

With the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup, the MXIM project has put major focus on the World Cup Host Cities and numerous activities have been planned to promote the tournament to the extent possible among the local populace. Baby Leagues: The All India Football Federation has newly introduced the Baby League project earlier this year in an effort to provide more engagement for children aged five and upwards to get involved in competitive football over longer periods. Based on a format which is highly popular in South America, the league is intended to involve greater participation from children starting from the age of five up until ten years playing in 2v2 all the way up to 7v7 formats.

Simplicity in Implementation : 22

Three Partner States : Final Structure : At present, India has national teams in age groups starting from under-14, while the I-League has a junior version involving under-18 as well as under-16 teams competing within it. With a comprehensive set of guidelines and online support for league operators, the AIFF Baby League provides greater participation for kids in a competitive year-round setting across various age-categories. 23

Haroon Amur Hamed Al Bartamani, AFC Instructor took the 6 day course in Goa. The Course consisted of theoretical as well as practical sessions to develop the Goalkeeping level in India. 17 participants attended the AFC Goalkeeping Level 2 course, which got underway from November 24th, 2017 at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai. The Course had the Goalkeeping Coach of Women National Team of India along. The instructor shared valuable experience for a continuous development as GK coach in their careers. Following are the names of the participants who attended the course: L Ronibala Chanu, Matheus Khyriem, Raghuvir Pravin Khanolkar, Shaikh Mohammed Qadeer, Mukesh Kumar, Felix De Souza, Richard Celestine Sanches, Parshuram Salwadi, Alex Cleofas, Subrata Das Gupta, Gumpe Rime, Rajat Guha, M Zakeer Hussain, Jeddy John Almeida, Manish Ramesh Kajania, Mihir Milind Sawant, Firmin De Souza AFC GK Level 2 Certificate Course from 24th till 30th November, 2017, Goa, India AFC A-Certificate Course (Module 1) from 12th till 25thJune, 2017, West Bengal, India AIFF conducted the first AFC A-Certificate courseof 2017 in West Bengal from 12th June till 25th June, 2017. The course has been divided into 2 modules and consisted of a series of practical and theoretical sessions followed by assessments and dissertation. The second module was held from 15th till 27th August, 2017.

SAI - AIFF International Football Coaching Conference, 11th-12th October, 2017, Noida, India The highlight for the development of Coach Education in the year 2017 was the first ever 'SAI - AIFF International Football Coaching Conference' in collaboration with the Amity University during the U-17 World Cup for the development of the coaches and the importance of Coach Education in the technological era. The conference focused on how the Coaches today can promote and support youth development through Scientific Coach Education. It also aimed at disseminating knowledge about the standards, initiatives and successful football experiments done by various Coaching Professionals.

The 2 day conference took place at Amity University, Noidaon 11th-12th October, 2017 and involved over 250 participants from all over India. Various foreign delegates from the Football Industry visited India from all over the world to share their experience and provide their valuable contribution towards the development of Indian Coaches. AIFF D License Refresher Course for Instructors from 28th till 30th December, 2017, Goa, India The first batch of the AIFF D License Refresher Course for Instructors was conducted between December 28 to December 30 at the AIFF Training Centre in Goa.

AIFF Technical Director, Savio Medeira and Head of Youth Development, Richard Hood conducted the course along with AFC Instructor Mariano Dias. A total of 22 participants including the likes of National Women's Team Coach Maymol Rocky and Indian U-16 boys coach Bibiano Fernandes attended the course which consisted of practical as well as theoretical sections conducted over the course of the 3 days. Since the AIFF D License curriculum has undergone appropriate changes, the course had interactive sessions with the involvement of all the attendee instructors.

AIFF C License Refresher Course for Instructors from 7th till 9th October, 2017, Delhi, India A Refresher Course for Instructors began today at the Football House today (October 7) in New Delhi. The course which will continue till October 9 is being attended by AFC Instructors from India. As of now there are 4 MA Instructors for AFC 'C' License, 1 MA Instructor for AFC 'B' License and 1 MA Instructor for AFC 'A' License in India. AIFF Technical Director, Savio Madeira "This is the First Refreshers Course we are having with our instructors for 'C' and 'B' License holders, so that we can improve the quality of our courses. We also plan to meet all our 'D' License Instructors before the year ends so that we can improve on that aspect as well".

The course has been designed to keep the current set of AFC Instructors updated regarding their programmes. Sessions relating to practical, theoretical as well as technical aspects of the game will be discussed during the course. 27